February's video releases include bits of Oscar bait, including “Flight,” with Denzel Washington as a pilot accused of alcoholism; Ben Affleck's “Argo,” about making a phony movie during the 1979 hostage crisis; and “The Master,” with Philip Seymour Hoffman as a charismatic leader who recruits Joaquin Phoenix into his cult.

The most anticipated release, however, is probably the latest James Bond picture, “Skyfall,” with the series' best title song in years. Adele seems poised to snag an Academy Award for it.

Some films catch the attention of the various dispensers of awards, while others fly safely under the radar. Among the latter is “Robot & Frank,” starring Frank Langella as a retired thief who gets a kind of robot-nanny from his kids and trains it as a partner in crime. With James Marsden, Liv Tyler and Susan Sarandon, this original tale has gone unnoticed.

Benoit Jacquot's “Farewell My Queen” follows one of Marie Antoinette's ladies-in-waiting during the early days of the French Revolution. She observes the whims of her mercurial mistress, keeping her own feelings inside. The suspenseful, lavishly costumed affair is a showcase for Léa Seydoux and Diane Kruger.

Just about every Spanish thriller these days is excellently smooth and twisted. Jaume Balagueró, who made the terrific “[rec],” now comes up with “Sleep Tight,” about the lonely concierge of an apartment building whose obsession with a pretty tenant causes him to go to perverse lengths to be with her. The plot isn't credible, but the atmosphere is supercreepy, a paranoid's delight.

The Japanese “Hard Romanticker” strings together scenes about interchangeable petty yakuza thugs who beat each other to pulps by way of conversation. As in the films of Takeshi Kitano and Takashi Miike, the camera usually watches impassively from a corner, so it feels both cruel and derivative, as well as restless and aimless. It touches on Korean alienation in Japan, courtesy of director Gu Su-Yeon.

That's from a new label called Artsploitation, whose broad palette also covers the much gentler feel-goodness of Dome Karukoski's “Lapland Odyssey,” a deadpan slacker comedy about a loser whose girlfriend will shut him out unless he and two buddies spend a long Finnish night finding a cable TV box. It gets really tricky after they total the car. While they drift farther afield, a rich guy sets his sights on the girlfriend.

For “The Flying House Project,” animator Bill Plympton took Winsor McCay's brilliant 1921 cartoon about a flying house, meticulously cleaned the image, and added color and voices. This DVD includes both versions plus lots of interviews with historians (such as Leonard Maltin) about whether this re-imagining counts as a celebration or a desecration.

More straightforward archival rescues come from Skip Elsheimer's A/V Geeks Film Library, which has thousands of scratchy educational propaganda projected in schools from the '40s to the '80s. From Kino, “Troubled Teens” and “Rules for School” are crammed with more than two hours of fascinating, corny, sometimes effective, sometimes bizarre films about reckless driving, alcohol, VD, vandalism, manners, fighting, pregnancy, drugs, brushing your teeth and generally getting your act together, mister.

The teen tragedies are over-the-top, like the one with Dick York (“Bewitched”) as a crazy speedster. The films from the '50s are the best, the '70s often clunkily “hip.” Some are still surprisingly well done; “As Boys Grow” counts as progressive. While most try to scare kids into following rules, some ask still-controversial and -relevant questions, such as when to stop a fight.

These are recommended in doses of one or two at a time; too many at once is numbing and may cause heartache and eternal regret. Besides, you need to pause for group discussion.